AoM Retold SOTL vs Titan AI (new god Freyr)
Table of contents
- Playing Age of Mythology Retold on Titan difficulty with the new Freyr God pack—let's see how this defensive strategy holds up!
- Building your strategy with the right resources and timing can make all the difference.
- When your strategy falls apart, adapt quickly and keep pushing forward.
- Epic comeback in the making: from chaos to victory with strategic moves and powerful god powers!
- Watching my myth units munch on buildings and heal themselves is the funniest thing ever!
Playing Age of Mythology Retold on Titan difficulty with the new Freyr God pack—let's see how this defensive strategy holds up!
Hey guys, Spirit of the Lie here. We're going to be playing some Age of Mythology Retold now that it's outside of beta. This is early access to the full game, which everyone gets if you pre-order the Premium Edition. If not, the game officially comes out next Tuesday, September 3rd. For this session, I thought we could ease into things a little bit by playing against the AI, though not on a low difficulty. We're going to do it on Titan, which is the highest difficulty before it starts to cheat and just get extra resources and stuff.
As for our God, I'm going to be playing the new God pack, which is for Freyer. He offers an interesting twist on the normal Norse game plan of being very aggressive in order to generate their favor, which they get through combat. Freyer's whole idea is he's very defensive and tech-oriented, with all of his techs costing half the amount but taking two and a half times as long to research. This leans towards a boomy sort of strategy, and he has a couple of nice little defensive bonuses, including free repairing, which we'll probably see in the game. For the map, I guess we could just go with any random land map, but honestly, Tundra seems pretty on-brand for the Norse and is a pretty simple land map, so let's go for that.
Alright, so Tundra, Titan AI, and we're going to try the new God pack. Let's jump in. I'm going to try not to be too defensive here, even though that is kind of my usual thing. Oh man, lots of goats! We can bring them in with this fancy little command right here, and they'll just sort themselves out. I did not mean to shoot that. Okay, you get out of the way.
Let's see, this is my scout, Sluer. If you're not familiar with Norse, they're a little different. They have gatherers, which are your regular old villagers, but those villagers can't build too many things. Instead, you turn them into berserks. You start with a berserk as your scout, but this is also what unlocks all your buildings like your barracks or whatever they call it, the longhouse. These guys can only build houses and ox carts, which are basically my all-purpose camp, and then also farms, although on this map it'll be a long time before we farm.
Oh, what's this? Villagers train faster. That's a really good one; we should grab that one. I don't really know if I should get gold or wood first, maybe a little bit of wood. These goats, I'm accidentally hitting them. I guess I could fight these to get a little bit of favor. I think fighting animals gives you favor, not sure. Might actually be worth laming the AI here; that'd be kind of a jerk move. Although, hang on, this berserk is also my builder, so that might be a bad idea.
Something I love is that this tells you when you're five villagers or four villagers away from being housed. It's so hard to get housed in this game, which I love. This is great that we can put this down and get wood and gold at the same time. That's a nice little bonus when that happens.
So what do we need? We need a temple, and it costs 150, so we need 50 more gold and 38 more wood. We'll just go out here and then come back. If you're not familiar, the Norse also have something kind of cool where they can build dwarves. The dwarves are better at collecting gold but worse at collecting other things. Eventually, I guess we could try to put dwarves on gold, but for right now, I want to save my gold. Speaking of which, we're going to put down our temple here.
Yeah, see, this is so cool how you have this starting scout. It's just a neat idea and twist on things that he's also my builder, so I need to be building my temple with him. Well, I guess it's a girl this time, so I need to be building my temple with her and scouting at the same time. It kind of holds back my scouting a little bit, making me a little bit less aggressive, which is great.
Three on each, I'm wondering if we should send a couple to food because we want to get up to the next stage here pretty quickly. Actually, let's talk about our gods. We could go with Freya; I think she's in the base game, and we could go for a cavalry build. But I think I'm going to try the new guy, and he gets a free defensive building. I kind of want to lean into that.
Building your strategy with the right resources and timing can make all the difference.
I had a neat idea and twist on things. Since he's also my Builder, I need to be building my temple with him. Well, I guess it's a girl this time, so I need to be building my temple with her and Scout at the same time. This kind of holds back my scouting a little bit and makes me a little bit less aggressive, which is great.
Three on each—I'm wondering if we should send a couple to food because we want to get up to the next stage pretty quickly. Actually, let's talk about our gold and our Gods. We could go with Freya, who I think is in the base game, and go for a Cavalry build. However, I think I'm going to try the new guy who gets a free defensive building. I kind of want to lean into that, and we also get the text for half price, but I'm not going to grab those quite yet because I just want to advance as quickly as possible.
We split these a little bit. Only one Relic so far, which is a little unfortunate, but it is a really good one. What it does is cheaper villagers or train faster. Well, we'll get up to our pot a little faster. I like that we got a nice Tower that's protecting this whole thing, so I think we should actually upgrade this as soon as we age up. I guess this one's protecting our other wood line. Yeah, good Towers—I like it.
We found another one of these. What are you? Infantry trained faster. We're just going to have faster-trained everything. So, I get 5% faster-trained villagers from the other one, and this is 25% faster infantry. Another Relic—what does this one do? Hang on, I got to see what it does. It increases the attack of cavalry. Okay, I'm not as worried about that one, and I'm also not going to be making too much cavalry, so I don't really care if my opponent gets that. But I should grab—let's see, which one do I want more? I really want this villager one.
You just build a random house. This is so great, like you never get housed in this game. It's fantastic. The AI is beating me not just to the Age but has a pretty big score lead. Not sure if I should be worried about that.
Alright, so next age, the immediate thing we should do is actually place down this. I got to think about where we want it though. What direction would he attack me from? Let's do it out here or should I do it over here? Oh man, I just got to put it down somewhere. Let's put it here. This is my special building; it's just created from the sky. The pieces just fall out of the sky and create it, and that'll take a little bit of time.
We could help it along, not with villagers, but if I use my military units, I can help it along. I don't know if other people do this, but maybe I'll put the house beside the hunt and keep an eye on it. Hey, you're going to lose that gold. I'm actually floating a lot of resources right now. Let's have one of you, and you can give us some different buildings. I've actually got lots of wood right now, so let's just build everything.
One thing I love about this game—check this out—it tells you how long until it's finished building. So, it's going to take, you know, 2 minutes 24 seconds, but if I throw somebody else on it, you can see now it speeds up; it's only going to be a minute and 8 seconds left. I honestly think that would be great to bring over to Age of Empires 2 so that you can see how much time you have left on your building.
Okay, we got you. You're going to grab this and bring that back to the temple. Why not just grab this one? Might as well. Not doing the best scouting here all of a sudden. It makes infantry train faster. Okay, that's weird because I have that one, don't I? Oh no, he stole it. Ah no, something. Alright, well he stole that Relic because he distracted me there. Not ideal.
Let's make a market. Oh no, I don't want to berserk anybody. Here, what are you doing over here? Get over here. We should probably grab this town center site. Actually, this guy's just wandering around. See, this does take a long time to build, and that's even with my guy helping it out. I'm going to berserk you. I'm going to make a Town.
When your strategy falls apart, adapt quickly and keep pushing forward.
In the game, the player is attempting to build a temple but faces several challenges. They mention, "we just grab this one," and acknowledge that they are "not doing the best scouting here." Suddenly, the player notices that an opponent has stolen a relic, which allows infantry to train faster. This distraction is not ideal for the player.
The player decides to make a market but realizes they do not want to "berserk anybody." They instruct a unit, "get over here," and consider grabbing a town center site. They note, "this does take a long time to build," even with assistance. The player plans to "make a Town Center" but is interrupted by a large cavalry force. They express concern, "we need to make some units," but lack resources.
The player contemplates upgrades, "mining might be nice," and decides to get an upgrade for 75 wood. They express nervousness about being rushed, noting their defensive capabilities, including a boar that can protect their town center. Despite this, the opponent's large cavalry force is worrisome. The player considers making units that counter ranged soldiers, changing their mind after realizing the opponent has many ranged soldiers.
As the opponent attacks, the player decides to "throw in our boar" and rings the town bell. They question if Gand dorf can handle the situation, noting, "this seems like a lot." The raid is effective, and the player admits, "pretty good raid." The opponent equalizes the score, and the player regrets not being more prepared. They observe the opponent using a lightning bolt on Ganondorf, calling it "pretty clever."
After surviving the first attack, the player acknowledges they only get the boar once, which helped them through the initial raid. They debate going out again, considering it dangerous but noting proximity to a hill fort that can garrison 20 villagers. The player instructs idle villagers to get to work and contemplates getting dwarfs, though they are not quite ready.
The player struggles with resources, particularly gold, noting, "it's gold I'm so super low on." They explain that making dwarfs costs 60 gold, which is a long-term investment but not ideal short-term. They decide to upgrade units and stay on top of other upgrades, despite having too much food.
As the game progresses, the player attempts to push the opponent, noting they are leading in score despite feeling disorganized. They repair structures and prepare for another attack, hoping not to lose more villagers. They acknowledge having too many idle villagers and consider making anti-cavalry units. The player rings the bell again, instructing units to find safety, but expresses doubt, "I think I'm going to lose this.
Epic comeback in the making: from chaos to victory with strategic moves and powerful god powers!
The repair doesn't happen on its own, but it's free for me to repair, so I guess I might as well. Oh, and he's coming in here again. I don't know if he's avoiding my Fort or if I just placed it in a very unfortunate spot. There we go. Only 10 guys can go in here. Alright, well, I hope I don't lose any more villagers. We got 10 in there, perfect. Probably not ideal to have 22 villagers idle, but I don't want to lose them. One of my Towers is not great; it's having a lot of ranged units and Cavalry. I should probably make some anti-Cavalry units.
Let's ring a bell and find anywhere you can. Uh-oh, I think I'm going to lose this. Not ideal, going to need an epic comeback. I do have a second Town Center, so maybe losing a few villagers here won't sink me. Alright, we got to come up with something. I'm floating way too many resources; that's a lot of my problem. Let's have you guys go grab some gold. Unfortunately, I just don't have good sources of gold. So forward, oh, and you guys also don't have drop-off, so let's do that.
Alright, we can go up here. 500 gold, I'll eventually get that, and this Tempest thing seems pretty nice. Hail storm sounds right up our alley. I wonder if that's super effective on Tundra Maps. Probably not. Yeah, I'm getting a lot on wood so I can eventually go into Farms, but I mean, I don't really need wood. What are you guys doing? Oh, we should get our upgrades, maybe gold. It's a good one to get. Yeah, the other thing we should probably get is a market. A forward Market probably doesn't make sense, but it's just for selling resources. I need some more gold here.
Somehow I'm still competitive here. I feel like I've been raided pretty hard, and also this Marketplace is up, so I'm going to sell a little bit of this and we are going up finally. Is he in the next stage? He is not. Can I take that? Probably not, that's a lot of myth units. I know those centaurs are pretty good. Oh yeah, they do the little arrows from the sky thing. I wonder if this is still here, the armor of Achilles. The hack armor of infantry is only 5%, that's not that much, but it's probably worth grabbing. Except I got like no food. Why do I have no food? Uh-oh, why are all of you guys hanging out in here? Oh, that's not good.
Alright, we're going to form everybody up here. I don't even know what we should be making. Let's make some more Heroes. Oh, these guys are great. This might be time to use our hail storm. I love how the Shadows change direction; it seems so epic. What are you, a Manticore? I was kind of hoping that would be a little more hardcore. Okay, let's berserk and throw some of our villagers in. Yeah, I think we just froze these guys. This is intense. I love this power, and we can hit them while they're frozen, right? Yeah, perfect. That was a real momentum-swinging God power right there. I don't know if I was going to win that fight, but I'm coming out of it with a lot, including these guys. I love these guys. We have to coordinate them so we always have one blonde and one redhead. Alright, let's go guys.
I got the rock Guys. These Rock guys are amazing because you get this upgrade. Oh, okay, that's more than I expected. You get this upgrade for them and they eat buildings, so they actually heal themselves as they munch on buildings. It's the funniest thing to watch. Alright, I'll see if I can get it, but it's pretty expensive and I feel like I have a terrible economy right now. What is going on, team? Okay, everybody back up. Getting a little hyper-aggressive here, had some momentum but maybe show some restraint. We should probably, and this is the other thing I love about these guys, is I can forward build things. Alright, everybody engage. Why are we not attacking? We are on aggressive stance, so I don't know why we're not attacking. Okay, I think I just lost that Barrack. Okay, barracks in his face and you guys just go on. Love these Rock guys.
Watching my myth units munch on buildings and heal themselves is the funniest thing ever!
Buildings can actually heal themselves as they munch on other buildings. It's the funniest thing to watch. I'll see if I can get it, but it's pretty expensive, and I feel like I have a terrible economy right now. What's going on, team? Okay, everybody back up. We're getting a little hyper-aggressive here. We had some momentum, but maybe we should show some restraint.
One thing I love about these guys is that I can forward build things. Alright, everybody engage. Why are we not attacking? We are on aggressive stance, so I don't know why we're not attacking. I think I just lost that barrack. Okay, barracks in his face, and you guys just go on. I love these Rock guys. How do I upgrade them? What do I need? Favor, alright. When you get these, they have insatiable hunger, so they regenerate when attacking enemy buildings. I got two of them now, so come on, I just need a little bit more favor. Just do a little bit more damage, guys. There we go.
I'm going to pull back and build up my army a little bit. I'm having so many idols this game. One thing that confused me about these guys is their 90% Pierce armor. What about these two guys carrying this screams Pierce armor to you? Nothing. Now, this guy also dazes them. Interesting. He grabs it and starts eating it, and it heals him. He's at 880 HP. Wow, that actually heals a lot, like 51 HP right there. I love these myth units, but I wish they weren't so expensive. I wish by 20 minutes into the game, all you're making is myth units. It would just take this game to the next level.
Let's maybe focus down his TC. I think we kind of win this, right guys? Let's just make a little bit of everything. What did you have, the counterattack? I didn't know about that one. Hey, move buddy, trying to read The Relic. She trains faster. I knew about that one too. He did a better job grabbing relics than I did. I just love how they're so coordinated, like all right, blonde on the left, redhead on the right.
I feel like he came in a little late with this peace treaty, which they call a ceasefire. For one minute, I can't attack him. I guess I could go back and fix my economy. You would think I would notice this big red thing telling me all my villagers are idle, but I don't notice it. Alright, and back to munching. I can make more rock guys, and I would love to actually go up to the next age and unlock even more stuff. I got all these different types of giants like fire giants and frost giants, but in Age of Mythology, the game is usually over by 20 minutes one way or the other. I've either gotten destroyed or I'm finishing off the opponent. It never seems to play as long as I would want to hit all the cool stuff.
This one's awesome because you get fire giants that throw fire, frost giants that freeze things, and mountain giants that destroy buildings. It's so cool, but I feel like I never get to use them. I'm just going to jump ahead here. He's trying to give up, but I don't want him to. I want to use my new power, and we're only a quarter way there.
Alright, so I got a little fire guy. Where's fire guy? Hey, where are you? Look at this, how he leaves the little burning footprints. I love it. No, I'm going to say no to all these. We can build a mountain giant, we can build a frost giant. That's not really what I want to do. What I want to do is summon my dragon. Yeah, you do not cast this automatically. I want you to cast this. This is my big fire run that he does. Check this out. Do it, buddy. There you go. Did he even burn the whole farm? Come on, man, get in there. Okay, fine, AutoCast it.
Alright, poor guy is like, no, I'm just trying to rebuild. We'll bring in the rest of the army here. Alright, fire guy, do your thing. How much range do you have? 14 range. That'd be a lot in A2. I don't know if that's a lot in ancient mythology. They seem to do numbers a little differently in ancient mythology. Building line of sight numbers seem huge compared to A2. I like this guy, but unfortunately, there's just not much left to destroy. Maybe I should just let him resign.
So what happens if I resign? This isn't me giving up, right? This is weird. The guy wants to resign, and I say no, but then I resign, and it counts as a loss for me. Weird. But overall, that went pretty well. He got the most relics. I feel like I could have gotten that relic, but he distracted me with his cavalry, and I missed out on it. Very smart by him.
Score: On Titan difficulty, if you got your RTS chops up and you know your stuff, it's not too bad. It felt like a pretty competitive game until it wasn't. All resources, oh wow, because I hit my pop cap and auto villagers. Yeah, don't look at that one. That's pretty bad.
Alright, so anyway, that was my first try with Freyer. Honestly, I love the twist of having this defensive God for a game that normally focuses on aggression. I love that you get a couple of very good early defensive bonuses. I didn't use the repairing too much, but you can see I was under a ton of pressure for a while and felt like I was way behind on the first raid. I managed to survive it thanks to the power. I felt like I was getting pressure on the second one, and it just kind of came together. That one big fight with my third age Blizzard or whatever that was called really swung it and won the game. That was the game right there.
I'm not sure what sorts of videos I'll be making this week as I explore the game. The main release is on Tuesday, September 3rd. Honestly, the reviews are very positive, and I've been really enjoying my time with this so far. Maybe next game, we'll play against two AIs or something. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.